IBM arms robo-sysadmin QRadar with virus know-how

IBM is beefing up its enterprise security offerings by creating a security platform that is aware of real-time virus information, meaning that the system will be much quicker at recognising new threats.

Marketing its updated QRadar Security Intelligence Platform as a comprehensive security solution, IBM argue that the platform will protect companies much better than a bunch of piecemeal security patches. Systems patched that way have loopholes, warned Brendan Hannigan, general manager, IBM Security Systems.

The QRadar platform – designed by Q1 Labs and acquired by IBM last autumn – will have live information about viruses fed into it from 400 different sources. It will use that information to react more quickly and effectively to detect and quash bugs. The information feed is drawn from the IBM X-Force threat repository, which combs through over 13 billion security threats a day. According to Big Blue, it is the first time that X-Force‘s threat intelligence has been incorporated into a security intelligence solution.

Another key feature of the platform is additional data-crunching capacity – which will allow the monitoring and corroborating of suspicious activity across multiple different areas.

For example, the software will track activity for unusual changes:

With security intelligence, security teams can quickly determine whether access patterns exhibited by a given user are consistent with the user’s role and permissions within the organization.

And then using information from other areas, the system will be able to combine reports of threats. The statement explains:

With IBM Guardium Database Security integrated with the security intelligence platform, users can better correlate unauthorized or suspicious activity at the database layer – such as a database administrator accessing credit card tables during off-hours – with anomalous activity detected at the network layer, such as credit card records being sent to unfamiliar servers on the public Internet.

IBM's QRadar Security Intelligence Platform will be available before the end of March 2012. ®